Dennis C

As I continue to get into SIM racing, it’s time for me to think about upgrading from the PS5 platform to a dedicated gaming PC. This would also give me the ability to use iRacing, which greatly appeals to me.

For those of you with dedicated gaming PCs, what should I prioritized as I shop? Are there any specific systems that you recommend? I’ve begun my initial research into PCs. There’s a huge range of features and prices. It can get overwhelming fairly quickly.

ProCoach

GPU...

Most PC sims will auto-scale the graphics detail. The more detail your card can draw on the screen, the more immersive it is. I still have a GeForce 1080 Ti nVidia in one of mine, works fine at 1080p with all the stuff turned up, but for new cards, the AMD RX 7600 is the sweet spot for fast-refresh 1080p.

For 4K detail (and some sims aren't that detailed, natively), you'll bust the bank with something like the nVideo RTX 4090, but that card is eight times the cost of the AMD 7600!

You might consider working with either a PC builder like Velocity Micro (owned by a PCA member who tracks ALL the time at VIR) in Richmond or a sim builder like Sim-Seats for a PC that is less expensive than the cost of components to build your own.

Taran

From looking at https://www.iracing.com/membership/system-requirements/ it looks like your best bet would be some older tech if you are looking on a budget something like an i7-8700k (still fairly new and powerful) coupled with a NVIDA 30 series GPU 3060 or 3070 are always my goto as they are the best bang for the buck I've found in recent years.

If this is your first time building as stated above check out a builder with a solid reputation.

Dennis C

I’d definitely have someone build it for me. I don’t have the experience to build it myself. While cost is always something to consider, my priorities are performance and future compatibility and upgradability.

Rich.

I would be happy to potentially build one for you or recommend a pre-built if we see better priced options. You can find my work on my Facebook page. Search “RichD-PC”. I cannot post a Facebook link here.

I do have a website but I don’t use it much as most of my business is on Facebook.

https://richd-pc.com

Dennis C

Thanks, I’ll take a look. I don’t have (or want) Facebook, but I’ll look at your website.

daaa nope

Unfortunately, budget really needs to be the #1 question answered when it comes to building a sim. Both with the PC itself, and the components for the rest of the rig. Unless it's unlimited or cost-no-object, there are always compromises to be made and the budget will dictate which ones to make.

Sometimes that makes people uncomfortable but IMO it's important to just get that out there first. Generally people will put together a package that fits your budget and then often offer "if you were to spend an extra $500 then I'd recommend swapping this part for this other one..."

ProCoach

Velocity Micro is my go-to. Big company that has a big pro sim racer clientele.

Rich.

you can also send me an email if preferred. Richdpcbuilder@gmail.com

peterp

I've been happy with Microcenter for advice on hardware choices and on building the PC and ensuring that it's upgradable. I'm still using the same PC chassis Microcenter recommended for the first 2016 build. Literally everything in it has been upgraded multiple times, but the upgradability has been awesome. They've done well on the hardware builds also (I replace cards myself, but anything significant (e.g. motherboard upgrade, liquid cooling) I've have them do).

The only drawback I've seen with Microcenter is that they know gaming generally, but not iRacing specifically. iRacing does require a lot of horsepower, so somebody like Velocity Micro will presumably give better advice.

Glyndellis

I bought a used Dell Alienware PC that works well
Alienware Aurora R11 Gaming Desktop, Intel i7-10700KF, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super 8GB GDDR6, 512GB SSD, 16GB DDR4 XMP, Windows 10 Home
$525 from Facebook Marketplace

daaa nope

When I was building rigs, I often defaulted to just using Microcenter pre-builds. Not necessarily the tip-top best rigs, but really hard to beat the value. And as Peter mentions - they are easily upgradeable, with off-the-shelf parts. On the rare occasion I do builds today (most of the time now I farm them out to somebody else), I just refer them to MC for the PC.

I've had good luck with Alienware too, though for the money, they tend to be overpriced with "meh" level components - AND - almost everything in them is proprietary.... meaning future upgrades are difficult. But their warranty is great - when I contracted for a flight sim company ($$$$$$$$ rigs) we used them and they were great about doing simple drop-ship replacements if our customers had issues.

Dennis C

I’m currently okay with the rig I’ve got. I’m using a Next Level Racing seat and a Fanatec direct drive wheel and load cell pedals. I’m currently using a single monitor, but it’s high quality with a good refresh rate. I’m really just looking at the switch from PS5 to PC right now.

daaa nope

I wasn't just referring to the peripherals - budget generally needs to be known for PC component selection too.

spyderbret

If you are going to use iRacing a lot you need to prioritize the CPU. For some reason iRacing is CPU intensive so if you could get an Intel 10900k paired with a 3080 or 3090 that would keep you going for a couple years. If you can stretch to a 13900k CPU you will be on the most current motherboard and have more future upgrade options. So a 13900k with a 4080 GPU would rock for a while. And you could upgrade both when newer stuff comes out. For a few years anyway. I build my own PC's as a hobby so my current setup is a 13900k, 4090 water-cooled GPU and 64GB RAM on a ROG motherboard. Once you go PC you'll never go back!